Girls basketball | Minster, Toledo Rogers repeat as champions

Saturday

Mar 16, 2019 at 8:42 PMMar 16, 2019 at 8:42 PM

Early in the Division IV championship game, Minster's student section began to chant “36,” much to the embarrassment of girls basketball coach Mike Wiss.

The Wildcats didn't let down their fans Saturday, beating Ottoville 53-37 at Value City Arena in a rematch of the 2018 state final. Not only did Minster repeat as champion, it racked up state team title No. 36 for the school.

Since the spring of 2017, the Auglaize County school has championship trophies in baseball, football, girls basketball (two), girls track and girls cross country. Sophomore guard Janae Hoying already has played on four state title teams.

"I think we've played some pretty good basketball on this floor the past two years," Wiss said. "These kids really know when it's time to get down to business."

Trailing 16-13 midway through the second quarter, Minster (28-1) started an 18-3 run to swing the momentum. With Hoying scorched Ottoville's 2-3 zone with three straight three-pointers, forcing the Big Green back into man-to-man defense. Then, 6-foot-2, Xavier-bound senior Courtney Prenger went to work inside with four baskets.

"Minster is just so physically strong, we couldn't handle them," Ottoville coach Dave Kleman said. "They've got a couple inches and 10 or 15 pounds on us at every spot. On the defensive end, they make it so tough to get an open look. They contest everything. We got beat by a great team."

Ottoville (25-4) also lost to Minster 46-28 in the final game of the regular season.

Toledo Rogers 56, Dayton Carroll 45

Zia Cooke wanted to make something clear in her opening remarks to the media after Rogers downed Carroll for the Division II title.

"Put this in: This man is a legend," she said, pointing to coach Lamar Smith.

Smith, Cooke and the Rams left their mark on the program by repeating as champions. Rogers (27-2) had been runner-up in 2015 and also reached the final four in 2014.

Rogers got out to an 8-2 lead and stretched it to as much as 17 before withstanding a heated rally by Carroll (27-3).

"It was all about defense, and as everybody knows defense wins championships," Smith said. "We've been in a lot of fights, and I was confident in our chances. We did all the little things we needed to do to come out on top."

Although Cooke, a South Carolina signee, was held to 13 points by a stingy Carroll 2-3 zone, the Rams patiently got the ball inside. They scored 30 points inside, often feeding the ball from the high post.

"With them playing a zone, we had to slow it down and think more, and that was probably a good thing for us," Cooke said.